SADDAM Hussein today went on trial for alleged crimes against fellow Iraqis, appearing in a tightly secured courtroom in the former headquarters of his Baath Party two years after his capture.

He faces charges in a 1982 massacre of nearly 150 Shiites that could carry the death penalty if he is convicted.

When the trial began, the 68-year-old ousted Iraqi leader - looking thin with a salt-an-pepper beard in a dark grey suit and open collared white shirt - stood and asked the presiding judge: "Who are you? I want to know who you are."

"I preserve my constitutional rights as the president of Iraq," Saddam said. "I do not recognise the body that has authorised you and I don't recognise this aggression ... I do not respond to this so-called court, with all due respect."

Refused

The presiding judge, Rizgar Mohammed Amin, a Kurd, tried to get Saddam to formally identify himself but Saddam refused.

The panel of five judges will both hear the case and render a verdict in what could be the first of several trials of Saddam for atrocities carried out during his 23-year-rule.

The defendants were seated in two rows of black chairs, partitioned behind a low white metal barrier, in the centre of the court directly in front of the judges' bench.

Starting the session, Amin called Saddam and his seven co-defendants into the room one by one. Saddam was the last to enter, escorted by two Iraqi guards in bullet-proof vests who guided him by the elbow.

He glanced at journalists watching through bullet-proof glass from an adjoining room. He motioned for his escorts to slow down a little.